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US Invaded By Savage Tick That Sucks Animals Dry, Spawns Without Mating (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: A vicious species of tick originating from Eastern Asia has invaded the U.S. and is rapidly sweeping the Eastern Seaboard, state and federal officials warn. The tick, the Asian longhorned tick (or Haemaphysalis longicornis), has the potential to transmit an assortment of nasty diseases to humans, including an emerging virus that kills up to 30 percent of victims. So far, the tick hasn't been found carrying any diseases in the U.S. It currently poses the largest threat to livestock, pets, and wild animals; the ticks can attack en masse and drain young animals of blood so quickly that they die -- an execution method called exsanguination.
Key to the tick's explosive spread and bloody blitzes is that its invasive populations tend to reproduce asexually, that is, without mating. Females drop up to 2,000 eggs over the course of two or three weeks, quickly giving rise to a ravenous army of clones. In one U.S. population studied so far, experts encountered a massive swarm of the ticks in a single paddock, totaling well into the thousands. They speculated that the population might have a ratio of about one male to 400 females. Yesterday, August 7, Maryland became the eighth state to report the presence of the tick. It followed a similar announcement last Friday, August 3, from Pennsylvania. Other affected states include New York, Arkansas, North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Key to the tick's explosive spread and bloody blitzes is that its invasive populations tend to reproduce asexually, that is, without mating. Females drop up to 2,000 eggs over the course of two or three weeks, quickly giving rise to a ravenous army of clones. In one U.S. population studied so far, experts encountered a massive swarm of the ticks in a single paddock, totaling well into the thousands. They speculated that the population might have a ratio of about one male to 400 females. Yesterday, August 7, Maryland became the eighth state to report the presence of the tick. It followed a similar announcement last Friday, August 3, from Pennsylvania. Other affected states include New York, Arkansas, North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Wow, I used to trust Ars to bring me researched, objective science and technology news -- but no more.
What a piece of sensationalist tripe this is!
How do I know?
Well I live in New Zealand, one of those countries which has this tick -- in fact we only have two tick species here and this is one of them.
Neither our cattle, sheep nor people have been brought to their knees by this pest and the countryside isn't over-run with a red tide of invading creatures.
Sorry Ars, you've just been relegated to "tabloid tech" in my book.
Such a shame.
Who *can* we rely on for *real* news and not this click-bait sensationalist crap?
..The Ex-Wife.
US Invaded By Savage Tick That Sucks Animals Dry, Spawns Without Mating
Up here in Canada, we call these creatures "Tories".
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
That is one very, VERY happy tick!
#DeleteChrome
sure, as long as you ignore the vast mayority of the people that get infected with SFTSV and never get more than a slight fever for some days.
It is an election year after all.
Apparently the brain slug died of starvation. Tsk. Tsk. Poor thing.
We should rejoice and embrace this tick. All in the name of tolerance and multi-bio-culturalism. How un-PC it is to discriminate against this innocent refugee from Asia.
So, Jewish and Islamic ticks. Sounds about right.
Welcome our new, blah, blah, blah.
The tick, the Asian longhorned tick (or Haemaphysalis longicornis), has the potential to transmit an assortment of nasty diseases to humans, including an emerging virus that kills up to 30 percent of victims. So far, the tick hasn't been found carrying any diseases in the U.S.
And there's this other species[*] that has the potential to transmit an assortment of nasty diseases to humans, including an emerging virus that kills up to 80 percent of victims.
[*]: Homo Sapiens Sapiens
Careful with the dosage though, to much can poison the dog.
That reminds me!
I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords!!!
What could possibly go wrong in the long run with such genetic uniformity?
"Eastern Asia", WTF. You mean CHINA? Why is Ars afraid to say CHINA?
Whoever modded you up should be killed.
Ticks aren't insects you asshole. (My entomology class in college was taught by an acarologist--- TICKS ARE NOT INSECTS!)
Ticks are arachnida, not insects.
This is slashdot, of course the details matter more than the joke.
how many nasty nasty animals, bugs, etc are coming from China to the west esp. America. Snakehead.
Lion Fish.
etc. etc. etc.
I would suspect that China is also suffering. Like Brazil and other rain forest, they have some unique fauna and animals (which is also why they invade elsewhere).
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Because China would be the Orient. Eastern Asia would be Bangladesh and Burma. Please see the British for the proper definition of Asian and Oriental...
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
It makes me sick that all you racist white homophobic trump supporters are against blood sucking ticks. The foreign ticks have just as much right to b here as the native born ticks. If the native born ticks woukd work a little harder and suck some more blood, maybe they would not be displaced.
End racism by allowing blood sucking undocumented guest ticks and guest workers to feed off and displace your children
suggests that they live and reproduce on US dimes.
There are medications which can help alleviate intrusive and unwanted or delusional thoughts. Do it for your fellow internet users, because such thoughts can lead to instrusive and unwanted or delusional posts.
What kinda idiot believes something on the internet?
Nice try, Vlad.
FTFY
"No fear. No envy. No meanness." Liam Clancy
Nice, exactly what NY needs. One more parasite to suck the life out of people, making it harder to live there. Most of my friends are moving south to the carolinas and I can't blame them. Dermacentor cortez in particular is hitting Brooklyn pretty hard, spreading disease. These gain enough traction and they'll suck the whole state dry. I hope NY stomps this shit out quick.
That reminds me!
I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords!!!
Tick? Insect?
Are you on drugs?
Or just check a compass for the proper definition of East.
I live at the magnetic North Pole you insensitive clod!
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
Diner patron: "You can't be a tick. Ticks got eight legs."
Tick: "How do you know I don't..?"
Especially when it comes from someone posting anonymously.
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
ROFL at open-borders liberals unironically writing about "invasive species".
Here's what I found:
The longhorned tick can transmit an animal disease called theileriosis to cattle, which can cause considerable blood loss and occasional death of calves, but mainly is important to dairy farmers because of decreased milk production and sheep farmers because of decreased wool quantity and quality.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
So the tick doesn't suck animals dry. It's a vector for a disease, theileriosis, which only affects cattle and, if left untreated, kills the host. Blood loss through the nose and bowels are two of the symptoms but infected cattle don't die from blood loss (exsanguination).
The longhorned tick is sometimes also a vector for other common tick-borne diseases.
This is a non-story for anyone except researchers and maybe farmers if the ticks start spreading theileriosis. There are other species of tick in Asia, Europe, and north Africa which are more common vectors for theileriosis.
Ars Technica have published a misleading and factually incorrect article which is apparently intended to cause fear and anxiety among millions of people. They have displayed all the journalistic integrity of Facebook.
Debate is a form of harassment. Do not question my truth.
You still know what a compass is, and Asia still has an East even if you don't.
US Invaded By Savage Tick That Sucks Animals Dry, Spawns Without Mating
A harem full of succubus ticks.
RepublicanDomesticus
The sad part that no american ever wants to get, is that both of your "sides" are utterly insane. Not just the Trump side.
The whole concept that you fall for those "us vs them" scenarios like a herd of lemmings again and again, is the thing what makes the USA such a joke nowadays. Not just the things that result from that.
Stop hating your fellow countrymen, would ya? They are just like you! The want happiness too! They just got other assholes telling them what to want. Just like you do.
Get real, throw those damn ideologies out of the window, and judge people only by what you saw with your own eyes,and ith the awareness that there is no such thing as free will. Look beyond the veil of manipulation. Your own too! And you will see a friend!
And even those are biased by your own previous input. Because brains are bias machines!
Yeah, beyond survival, all you dreams, wishes and goals are based on manipulative input from early childhood, and thanks to epigenetics and teaching, in a way even from before you were conceived, by manipulating you patents and teachers.
Free will is an illusion, perceived reality is relavive, nature has no concept of "purpose", and we have to live with all that, because it is all that ever will be.
If you really want to have an existential crisis, look up the Münchhausen trilemma, with regard to the big bang and causality. .... now what?
Yeah
https://www.pktechhunt.in
If it breeds without mating, asexually, then humans can too and we no longer need families.
From TFS, these are the velociraptors of ticks. They know no fear and are always hungry. They have no concerns but devouring their prey.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
Can we mod this one funny? It made me laugh more than the original.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
means, we're fucked.
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
Well, the joke was overplayed and therefore missed the mark.
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
That's my dream! :D
We're on Slashdot. Do you really need to explain what "asexually" means?
Whatever. They die to the same kind of spray.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
This sucks.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Comment removed based on user account deletion
A tickless kernel
I don't think they can spawn...can they?
If you frequently find yourself in the habitat of these little buggers, there are things you can certainly do to protect yourself, your family, and your pets.
Dogs can take Afoxolaner pills (NexGard, etc..) for monthly flea/tick prevention.
People can spray their clothing with Permethrin treatments to kill insects that get on them.
You can spray areas around your home with Cypermethrin (a longer lasting type of permethrin) every couple of weeks to prevent these things from crawling up into your home.
These will all work pretty well for the time being, until the insects become resistant to them.
Dammit, not another article about Trump!
Whoever modded you up should be killed.
Interesting suggested use of the death penalty. Are you from Texas?
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
Ticks are arachnida, not insects.
Though arthropod is classier
Counterattack with an army of tick-eating possums.
"Love heals scars love left." -- Henry Rollins
" an execution method called exsanguination. "
You've gotta love it when a clueless reporter uses a word they've never seen before.
Yes Einstein, exsanguination is the medical term for bleeding to death.
The OP writeup sounds like a horror movie script. Bugs that suck the life from people, invading "ticks" (our collective favorite scary bug), marching on us, invaders from space.
Yes - if I were to think of an AI nano-bot script, I'd make it even scarier by replacing them with REAL bugs that collectively work together. The Blob has nothing on this. Oooh -- Chuckie could lead them.
And in a turn of events the Chainsaw dude could come and save us all.
If this tick spawns without mating it should be easier to eradicate - mostly the same genotypes. The only factor would be natural mutation, which is not so fast as for bacteria.
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If it was about Trump, the tick would be called TinyHorned.
Tariff Tic
Really? They just discovered the Republican party?
Mike Pence?
They used Trump genes and blended them with a tick genes, not a bad combination.
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." - Jiddu Krishnamurti